


A Melody for the Heart

by Lazchan



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Slow Build, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 22:21:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9260264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lazchan/pseuds/Lazchan
Summary: Everybody has a song inside their head that leads them to someone else.... Yuuri has been hearing his music since he first started the road to ice skating.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Colt_kun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Colt_kun/gifts).



> So this fic is for Colt, who wanted a soulmate AU, which this one is~ if just slow going. Oops. I hope y'all enjoy it anyhow! <3

Yuuri clung to his mother' s hand as she led him into the ballet studio. Minako-sensei was already there, her smile bright and warm and familiar, and Yuuri started to relax. He knew Minako-sensei quite well; she was always at the onsen and he had been captivated early on by the way she seemed to dance as she walked, each movement flowing into the next, even when she was slumping over one of the low tables in the common room.

 

He wanted to be like that; he didn't want to trip over his feet anymore; he didn't want to be teased by the kids in the neighborhood for being awkward and shy. Minako-sensei never seemed to be either one and to his four-year-old mind, she was a hero and he wanted to be just like her.

 

"So you want to see if you can do ballet?" she asked, crouching in front of him and taking his hand away from his mother's. "Or do you just want to learn how to stretch and move easier?"

 

He stared down at the mats on the floor and took a deep breath. "I want to be like you," he said in a rush, eyes wide at how he said it so bluntly and his throat closed and tears pricked at his eyes. Minako-sensei never said anything about him like the kids in the neighborhood did, but what if she thought that he wasn't going to be good at it because he was too chubby?  "I…" he couldn't get the rest of the words out, but she seemed to understand anyway.

 

She  wrapped her arms around him and he didn't see the smile that Minako-sensei exchanged with his mother, but he felt the way she tightened his grip around him and the quiet huff of a laugh. "What a nice thing to say!" she pulled back and wrinkled her nose at him. "Let's see what you can do," she said, moving to her feet gracefully and taking his hand.

 

He beamed up at her; she didn't say no and she never mentioned how practically tripped over his feet, eager to learn what she could teach him. Her smile warmed him all the way through.

 

"I bet you're going to love it, Yuuri."

 

In the back of his mind, the first few strands of a melody played.

 

~

 

The first time that Yuuri stepped out onto the ice, the unfamiliar music filled his head and caused him to stagger. It wasn't even words and only a bit of a melody and then it was gone again. It was … _weird_. He quickly pushed it to the back of his mind when he struggled to keep his balance. He didn't want Nishigori-san to make fun of him and _Yuuko_ was there and he had to stay upright.

 

Yuuko still noticed though and her hand was there to steady him and he breathed in a sigh of relief. He'd ask his mother later what that was—he thought he remembered her talking to Mari about it, but he couldn't remember what it was about. Yuuko's bright smile helped him forget about it and he concentrated on moving on the ice.

 

He wanted to prove to himself that he could be good at this; that Minako-sensei was correct to pull him away from the studio long enough to see how he'd move on ice skates. He had been studying with her for a few years and to have her follow some whim like ice skating had been surprising, Still, though…from the moment he had laced up the skates, it had felt right and as much as he loved learning dance from Minako-sensei, he wanted _this_ as well.

 

~

 

He didn’t think about the music again until he skated in his first performance; it something small for the local kids at the rink. Yuuko had done it last year and Yuuri's instructor had determined that he was proficient enough to show off what he had learned. It was and wasn't like the ballet recital he had done with Minako-sensei's class. The ballet class had been just as small, but the parents there had sat in silence as they watched the small performance that the class put on. The ice skating one was so much more _vocal_. There were gasps and clapping, especially when something unusual happened. With each person that went before him, Yuuri felt his stomach drop into his shoes and he trembled, hugging his knees to his chest.

 

_What if I mess up? What if I fall on the ice or people tease me or I forget how to do the jumps and the spins… what happens if people wonder how I got onto the ice …._  He was making himself sick with worry and the blood drained out of his face and he felt clammy. When he closed his eyes and breathed in to calm himself, the music from his first time skating slipped into his mind and the foreign sound of it relaxed him and he found himself breathing easier after the first few verses wound their way through his mind.

 

He could do this—he felt more alive on the ice than he did anywhere else and as his name was called, the pressure inside his chest released and he skated out to the center of the ice, the music still playing faintly in the back of his head and guiding his movements. He was starting to think of the music as a good-luck charm.

 

When his performance ended and the final scores were tallied, he found he had outskated everyone else and he had won first place.

 

When he accepted the small trophy, he was beaming as he skated at lightspeed over to Minako-sensei, only pausing long enough to put on the guards for his skates, before flinging his arms around her tightly. She was the one that made this all possible; she had given him the window to do something that truly made his heart light up. It was like dance, but better—it was like flying, but staying on the ground. He heard her laugh softly as she hugged him back.

 

"I guess we'll continue skating, hm?" she asked.

 

He nodded eagerly, beaming up at her and showing her the trophy again. "I'm going to earn a lot of these and make you proud."

 

She hugged him back and led him to the changing room, wiping at her eyes and resting a hand on his shoulder as she kept him upright with the skates until he could put on his sneakers again. "You already have, Yuuri," she said. "You were amazing."

 

He blushed and stared down at his feet, uncertain again now that he wasn't skating and the music in his head had retreated once more. "We're… we're still gonna do ballet, right?" he asked her, chewing on his lower lip. He didn’t want to stop that, either—

 

She grinned down at him as she ruffled his hair. "You bet we are," she said firmly, helping him to the bench and untying his laces. "We'll do special classes, just me and you, so that you can be the best ever on the ice."  She tweaked his nose. "You were calmer than I thought you'd be, Yuuri."

 

He rubbed his nose and made a face, before bouncing to his feet again, tucking his skates away carefully in the bag his mother had bought just for him. "I heard the music in my head again," he said simply, not looking up at Minako-sensei until he realized she was far too quiet and she stared down at him with wide eyes.

 

"Music?" she asked. "You heard music before you went to skate?" She seemed torn between excitement and shock and he spared at thought that adults were _weird_ about things.

 

He nodded uncertainly and carried the bag and the trophy, holding the latter tightly and still smiling to himself. Minako-sensei said he could still dance with her and he could still skate and all was right at the moment. He hoped the music thing wasn't something _bad_. It made him feel warm and calm inside.

 

"Yuuri…" her voice trailed off slightly. "Did you mother talk to you about soulmates yet?"

 

His nose wrinkled up at the question. "Isn't that for adults?" he asked. He didn’t want to think about something like _soulmates_. "I just heard music, Minako-sensei." He chewed on his lower lip as he thought. "Maybe it was just music you played during rehearsal?"

 

She looked as if she wanted to continue, her breath hitching in on a sigh and then she smiled brightly at him instead. "Ah, maybe that's all it is," she said. "You are a bit young for it, after all—" He was only seven and to bring up something serious like soulmates seemed a bit wrong. His entire focus was on dancing and skating and she didn't want to upend something confusing into his life.

 

Even if it did seem as if it was because of skating, it could wait until he was older.

 

~

It was hard being at home when there were so many _people_ there. All strangers and tourists and then the local people who flocked to the only onsen in town. Some of them came from other countries and while it was interesting to hear their words and learn them, the pressure from the amount of people sometimes become too much and he escaped to the ballet studio or the rink, if Yuuko's parents were around and they let him in.

 

As if that first competition had opened a door for him, Yuuri found himself wanting to do more—see more of what he could do and he begged Minako-sensei to teach him ways to be more graceful. He was painfully aware that he was still chubbier than he could be and avoided home and his mother's delicious cooking to practice more and exercise more.

 

He wanted to do _better_ , he wanted to see what other opportunities were out there, but at the same time, his mind shut down at the thought of moving past Hasetsu and the Ice Castle and the local competitions. He just wanted to skate and he wanted to see what he could make his body do with skating and dancing, but… if he tried to go further, then what if he disappointed people when he failed?

 

Yuuko found him on the rink, after the main public had gone away and he could just enjoy the ice and the silence that it provided him. She knew him almost as well as Minako-sensei did, even if they were no longer in the same school. She had finally gone onto junior high and thus didn’t have as much time to skate as she used to or see him, but she always knew where to find him.

 

"Were there a lot of people at the onsen today?" she asked gently, touching his arm and stilling his spin. "Was it that or was it school?"  She was careful on her skates, but Yuuri stood as if he was more comfortable balancing on the sharp edge of the blades than he was on solid ground.

 

Yuuri shrugged and stared down at the scuffed ends of his skates. "There were a lot of tourists," he said softly, rubbing one arm, uncomfortable with voicing what made him so nervous. "All of them really loud and none of them really spoke Japanese that well and they stared a lot…" he winced. "I know that I have to get used to all the strangers if I'm gonna help at the inn. I can't just keep skating." He looked so sad at that that Yuuko hugged him tightly.

 

"Of course you can, Yuuri," she took his head and led him off the ice, so that they could talk more comfortably. His shirt was soaked with sweat and he looked tired. He was going to catch a cold if he kept it up for much longer. "Didn't you know there are professional figure skaters out there?" she beamed at him and helped him take off his skates once they got to the benches.

 

He nodded and looked confused at her enthusiasm. "But that's for really good skaters, Yuuko," he said shyly, tucking up the laces and walking with her to the back area to put away the skates. "I've only ever skated here. Those people probably trained since they were like… four or something."

 

She snorted in disbelief. "Yuuri, you've been training with Minako-sensei that long," she scolded. "And I've seen some of the programs on television. You're very good and you've only skated here because you haven't tried to _go_ anywhere else." She hugged him tightly. "I want to see what else you can do, Yuuri. I have this feeling that you can do really amazing things."

 

He gave her a tiny smile at that. "I just… really want to skate," he said, voice almost too quiet to be hard, as if it were a crime admitting it. "I know that my parents are going to want me to stop soon and focus on school and helping with the inn and stuff…" he kept his gaze down as Yuuko and him walked out the doors of the rink, into the soft spring air.

 

"Have you actually talked to them about it?" she turned and scowled at him, hands on hips. "Anyone can see that you love skating, Yuuri—I know that you think you should be practical and follow the same path that everyone around here always has, but you don't _have_ to." She forced his chin up so that she could stare him in the eyes. "Don't let anyone stop you, Yuuri. Maybe in a few years you'll change your mind, maybe we'll be seeing _you_ on tv, making more than just this small town love your skating."

 

He had to laugh at her dreams for him; she saw him flying much higher than he ever thought he could ever reach, but what he secretly wanted. "…I'll talk to Minako-sensei," he promised. There was surely a proper way to go about all this and Minako-sensei had been a famous ballet dancer and had traveled all over the world in a lot of different competitions. She, more than anyone in this town, would know where to start.

 

He decided to tease her back. "What about you, Yuuko?" he asked. "You're really good, too—and you know tons of stuff…" his voice broke off shyly. "You could go really far as well."

 

She laughed and ruffled his hair. "Not as far as you can, Yuuri. Sure, I love skating and I want to keep on doing it, but---" she chewed on her lip thoughtfully. "You know how you just get this _feeling_ about things or people?" she asked. He thought about the music in his head, helping him whenever he was overly anxious about any sort of display of his skating skills and nodded. "I have that feeling about you—you're not just meant to stay here and there. You belong on the ice, Yuuri."

 

He flushed completely and waved his hands in denial, but a part of him couldn't help but think she was right. Never did he feel as calm as he did when he was skating; whether the rink was empty or filled with people… once he got over his initial nerves, his mind emptied and he was filled with the sound of his skates cutting through the ice and he strove to show with his body what he felt with his heart.

 

If he was being completely honest with himself, he _never_ wanted to stop, no matter what steps he had to take.

 

As if a part of him agreed, the melody came back, an almost crescendo of sound that left him breathless for a moment, but more confident than ever in his choice and he gave Yuuko one last hug before he ran inside his house, bowing at one of the strangers in the main room before bolting back to the private family area.

 

Mari was sitting back there, sprawled across the couch and looked up briefly from her magazine when Yuuri bounced into the room. "Where's Mom?" he demanded. He had to get this out now before he let himself change his mind, while the music was still in the back of his head, pushing him forward. He still wasn’t sure of all what the music was, but he could ask while he told her what he wanted to do and maybe it would all make sense.

 

"In the kitchen," she yawned and went back to her magazine, only looking up when there came a slight commotion from the main room and she sighed, looking faintly annoyed. "I can't wait until you can help more around here, Yuuri. The guests _love_ you walking around and answering their questions."

 

Yuuri paused on his way to the kitchen, feeling his face flush and the uncertainty pricked away at him again. Wouldn't it be selfish of him to want to continue skating full time instead of helping out at home? Mari stopped as well, seeing his face and she ran a hand over her face, groaning slightly. "Don't do anything stupid, Yuuri. Wait right here and I'll be back after I help out the tourists figure out how to use the television again."

 

He laughed a little; the tourists should be either in their rooms or the onsen or getting ready for dinner; instead, for some reason, they usually found Japanese television amusing  and tried to watch the most basic of shows. He didn't understand it, but if they focused on the shows and not him, then he didn't mind so much.

 

Still, Mari had that look on her face that meant what she said and he could wait to talk to his mom after he talked to his sister. He sat on the couch she had vacated, fingers idly turning the pages of the magazine, feet kicking against the floor in uncertain movements. Mari was easier to talk to at times; she had gone through all of high school and just finished it—so she had her own goals away from the inn. Not that she wasn’t right back here, but she had said that 'it wasn't right yet' and was using this year to contemplate her next steps.

 

It wasn't too long before she came back in and she leaned back against the couch, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. "You're thinking about something again," she said after a moment, piecing through her words. "Is it about that skating thing you're doing?" she asked.

 

He nodded, fists balled up in his lap. "I… I was talking to Yuuko and… " he swallowed hard, the words caught in his throat in an almost painful way. "I want to keep skating… I want—I want to do the f-figure skating that I was practicing," he kept his gaze down at his feet. "It makes me really happy… and even though I know I c-can't…. keep doing it."

 

He felt the weight of her gaze on him and he looked up, but there was nothing judgmental, only something thoughtful. "Who said you can't keep doing it?" she asked. "Is it because of school or mom or the inn?" she asked. "You could study at home—look here," she pointed to one of the bands in her magazine. "They study on the road or they have tutors, so that they can focus on singing and practicing."

 

He stared at her, not even thinking about that possibility. He always imagined going to school, moving through the grades until he graduated and ….and then what? His mind was always a blank after that, not being able to move past the comfortable security of home. Lately, his dreams had been filled with moving on the ice in graceful movements, turning the small jumps and spins into something he couldn't put into words. He dreamed of leaping across the ice, the music that intruded into his thoughts more often than not, loud in the background.

 

He blurted out the next words to Mari, his eyes wide and breathing a little sharp in his chest. "Do you ever hear music in your head?" he demanded. It was and wasn't like the question he had asked Minako-sensei years ago and something that they had never brought up again.

 

Mari shrugged a little. "Aren't you too young to be thinking about your soulmate?" she asked instead. She saw his look of confusion and continued. "That's what the music means, you know—you hear music that belongs to your soulmate."

 

"I've…. I've heard it since I first started skating," he whispered. "When I skate more or do more or want more… I hear more of the music."

 

"Mm… maybe that means your soulmate is a skater, too—" she offered, "and every time you decide to keep on skating, it's telling you it's okay." She ruffled his hair and smiled down at him. "Go and tell mom that you want to skate, but Yuuri?" She rested a hand on his arm when he moved to get up. "Don't just do it because someone's waiting for you. Do it because it's something you love."

 

He tilted his head. "I do love it," he said, and his voice was wondering as he came to the realization that he loved it more than anything. "Maybe that's why I hear it when I skate—the person…" he stumbled over the words, he couldn't quite say 'soulmate', it was still too odd of a thought, nothing something that he could slot in his worldview yet, "that person loves it, too."

 

She laughed and pushed him to his feet this time, instead of restraining him. "Go and talk to mom, then," she mock-ordered, and her expression was soft. "You know it will be a lot of work, don't you?" she asked and he nodded.

 

He might still have doubts, but he knew that this was the right step to take.

 

~

 

"Yuuri!" He was nearly bowled over by Yuuko as she grabbed his arm and dragged him into the locker room. "Have you heard about him? About Viktor Nikiforov?" She spun around, much to the disgust of Takeshi next to her, but her excitement was catching.

 

He shook his head, already bending down to unlace his sneakers. He was happy to just be able to skate with her here; even if Takeshi made grumbling noises and started humming obnoxiously loud as if to keep Yuuri away from her by sheer force of tone-deaf music.

 

"He's just premiered in the Junior Worlds—he's from Russia and he skates so amazingly well—" her eyes were bright and she bounced up and down. "Ahh—soon you'll be there, Yuuri—skating beside people like him and …." He lost the rest of what she was saying as Takeshi flipped on the tv, scowling.

 

"I … I taped it for you," he muttered, cheeks red as Yuuko turned to him, eyes even wider than before. He was obviously embarrassed and Yuuri tuned the both of them out as he looked at the performance on the tv and his breath caught in his throat as he first saw the spill of silver hair, pale and stark against the black of his competition outfit.

 

He wasn't sure if it was the pounding of his heart or the music in his head as he saw Viktor Nikiforov skate for the first time.


End file.
